Bomb Salvos?

crossram

crossram

Charter Member
Just thinking ahead, for a project I'm working on.
I'm guessing, there's a way to get separate bomb salvos, depending on how the DP entries are written. Anyone know of a good example I can look at?

Aircraft I'm working on, only carrys a certain bomb load, usually dropping 'em in pairs.
 
dropping bombs

Well, it can be handled one of two ways that I know of. First is the number of bombs hung on the pylon. If the pylon say has two mount points, two bombs will be selected and dropped at once and for each pylon the dropping will repeat in pairs. However some pylons are models and were made by the artist and may be of a different design. You could for instance make one pylon with 10 mounts and attached to one pylon point in the model. When these bombs are dropped all 10 will go at once. So if you don't care how it looks, say and a few pylon nulls mounted to the internal pylons add a number of bombs ( I forget the numbering but (quantity goes like this 1=1, 3=2, 7=3, after that I forget...) so

<Hardpoint ID="0" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_500lb" Quantity="3"/> is a null pylon (not visible) that has two bombs per Hardpoint on pylon_null and here two bombs will drop each time you tell the game to drop the bombs.

But to make it right you need to make a pylon in gmax, place the mounts and add it to the game.

That is why if you have a plane with 10 bombs all each mounted to an individual pylon which is mounted to a unique hardpoint one bomb will drop at a time like this

<Hardpoint ID="0" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="1" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="2" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="3" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="4" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="5" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="6" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="7" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="8" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>
<Hardpoint ID="9" PylonType="pylon_null" PayloadType="b_1000lb" Quantity="1"/>

so this example from the b24

<Loadout Name="(20) 100lbs Bombs" MissionType="CAS,Strike">
<Hardpoint ID="1" PylonType="pylon_b24_100r" Quantity="31" PayloadType="AvHistory_us_Bomb__100lb_Internal"/>
<Hardpoint ID="2" PylonType="pylon_b24_100l" Quantity="31" PayloadType="AvHistory_us_Bomb__100lb_Internal"/>
<Hardpoint ID="3" PylonType="pylon_b24_100r" Quantity="31" PayloadType="AvHistory_us_Bomb__100lb_Internal"/>
<Hardpoint ID="4" PylonType="pylon_b24_100l" Quantity="31" PayloadType="AvHistory_us_Bomb__100lb_Internal"/>

when you drop bombs 5 will drop at a time

not easy to do after the fact - that is once the modeler makes the planes, decides on whether they are making pylons unique to the plane and for a variety of bomb loads.

Which plane are you playing with an existing model or a new one?

Good luck
 
The formula for the bomb count versus quantity is 2 raised to the n power minus 1

Count n____Quantity Value
_1____________1
_2____________3
_3____________7
_4___________15
_5___________31
_6___________63
_7__________127
_8__________255
_9__________511
10_________1023
 
Ju 88c 2

Doing a heavy revamp, on the Ju 88c 2 I had made for CFS2. Pretty much rebuilding the entire model. And, building up the 'office' the way it can be done in 3. Have much of it done, though more to do in the cockpit. Making pretty much all the gauges, since stock ones are wrong for the airplane.

Yep, will have it's own pylons/hardpoints built into the model. The C2 kept the A1's rear bombbay...used for anti-shipping.

Thanks for the loadout info!!
 
Ju88

Hey

I have sets of 3d German instruments and textures. I have period correct boost, rpm, compass etc. These are all 3d high poly gauges. I have used them in the Ju88's I revised years ago. If you want them reach out.

tally ho!
 
crossram said:
Doing a heavy revamp, on the Ju 88c 2 I had made for CFS2. Pretty much rebuilding the entire model. And, building up the 'office' the way it can be done in 3. Have much of it done, though more to do in the cockpit. Making pretty much all the gauges, since stock ones are wrong for the airplane.

Yep, will have it's own pylons/hardpoints built into the model. The C2 kept the A1's rear bombbay...used for anti-shipping.

Thanks for the loadout info!!
Click to expand...

hi crossram, I recently came across a Facebook group called Aviation Archaeology. There was a fascinating photo essay of the uplifting of 3 Ju 88s from a fiord in Norway. One of the things that was commented on was how well preserved some cockpit features were. IIRC these were A models not C models but some of the photos might still be of use. I don't know if the link will work because it is a closed group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/avarch/?post_id=1402372696617252
 
NachtPiloten said:
Hey

I have sets of 3d German instruments and textures. I have period correct boost, rpm, compass etc. These are all 3d high poly gauges. I have used them in the Ju88's I revised years ago. If you want them reach out.

tally ho!
Click to expand...


Appreciate the offer! Unfortunately, I can't get to my email, on this PC. :banghead: Kinda surprised I can get on this site, since most, I can't...at least for now.
Yep, the gauges I'm building are 3d also, each it's own gmax file. Probably the same that you did. I'll pick up one of your latest, and have a looksee.

Thanks for the link, Daiwelletti! Yes, I've seen some of it, researching.
 
Another dumb ?

Maybe someone can steer me in the right direction...

A gear indicator gauge I'm working on. Like the type with red/green lights, that flash on. This one uses three pairs of lights, red for up, green for down, and white once the gear is retracting. I've tried several times, to animate the white light, and each time, it moves way out of place.
The red is at 0-1, then back out. Trying to get the white on 1-49...then out, and the green on 49-50. The white isn't staying in place, 1-49, but moves farther out. What am I missing?

Thanks for any ideas!
 
sounds like you understand it about as well as i do but a lot can go wrong in Gmax. I can look at your file if you can get it to me by email or google drive, dropbox etc...
 
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by crossram
Maybe someone can steer me in the right direction...

A gear indicator gauge I'm working on. Like the type with red/green lights, that flash on. This one uses three pairs of lights, red for up, green for down, and white once the gear is retracting. I've tried several times, to animate the white light, and each time, it moves way out of place.
The red is at 0-1, then back out. Trying to get the white on 1-49...then out, and the green on 49-50. The white isn't staying in place, 1-49, but moves farther out. What am I missing?

Thanks for any ideas!
I am not sure if you mean your white light is moving too great a distance or that it keeps moving when the green should come on? Nor do I know how you have set up your lights (modelparts, animations) But I would check the following:
- pivot point of the offending modelpart usually the culprit if parts don't move along the expected path),
- Hierarchy in the gmax model (if 'white' is a child of 'green', you should expect it to move when 'green' moves)
- the setting of animation key's type. I used to see some of my animations move a little after reaching the desired position. It was caused by having the position/rotation key set to the 'Bezier' type instead of 'Linear'.

I struggled with a similar animation; One of the 'old hands' here (could have been Steve or Tom - not calling you old, guys. You've just been around here for a very long time
biggrin-new.png
) gave me the tip of a rotating cube to display 'gear up', 'gear in transit' and 'gear down' with three faces of the cube mapped to display the desired light. It rotates 90° at given keyframes to make the lights 'come on'. I used that suggestion as a basis for my own animation and it does work! Maybe it's something of use to you too.
It's like the keyframe setup you already use: keyframe0=CubeFaceOne, keyfame1=rotate 90° to show CubeFaceTwo, keyframe49=no animation, still showing CubeFaceTwo, keyframe50=rotate 90° to show CubeFaceThree. I think that should do the trick. If you want the red and green to stay on longer / come on earlier, move the keyframes, eg. to 2 and 49).
 
Last edited:
Thanks a bunch! Good ideas.

I'm using three colored discs (for each gear), that simply moves in front of the gauge face. As mentioned, I've tried several ways, but still get the same weird result. They are named r1, r2, r3, with the part name. Tried linked, and not.
What happens is the white, moves into position at 2. Other 'key' at 49, then moves back into the gauge. Between 1-49, let's say at 25, the dang thing has kept moving, about 5 inches! 26 up, it moves back to where it should be.

It's resting right now. Think it's somewhere in the keys. (If I have to, I'll put a key at each 2-48. Ha!)

Appreciate it, guys!
 
ok, I think there is an easy fix for that.


at each animation frame go the motion tab/key info(basic) and change the in and out rollouts to the one that looks like a staircase


One of the other guys may have a more elegant solution for you.


Steve



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sdsbolt said:
ok, I think there is an easy fix for that.


at each animation frame go the motion tab/key info(basic) and change the in and out rollouts to the one that looks like a staircase


One of the other guys may have a more elegant solution for you.


Steve ...
Click to expand...

:encouragement: Exactly what I was referring to: You don't have to fiddle with those roll-in/out graphs if you set your animation controller to 'Linear':

- Open the 'Assign Controller'-menu, just above the 'PRS Parameters'-menu, by clicking its 'plus'-sign.
- Look at the transformation controller in the little window you wish to set (Position, Rotation or Scale). I think the default setup for all three is 'Bezier ..' or perhaps 'TCB ..'.
- With your mouse, select the one you wish to set to something other than the default value.
- With a controller selected, click the button just above the little window showing a double green 'Play'-arrow and a second little black arrow (for lack of a better description). A popup window appears.
- Select the 'Linear ..' option for your animation controller.

Your animation will now move, rotate or scale (depending on the one you chose to alter) from A to B in a linear fashion, without having to try out which roll-in/-out graph gives the result you want. Of course you 'll loose the possibilities for the animation that those little blue graphs offer, but hey, some animations are simply linear...

I don't know if that counts as "elegant" but it sure is simple :biggrin-new:
 
A big thumbs up, to both of you!!

Naw, haven't got back to it, yet. But proves there's more than one way...to skin a cat. Too many ways to do the same thing in gmax. :dizzy:

Keeping busy making other gauges.
 
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